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The seeds of wrath
Gypsies first appeared in Hungary at the end of the Middle Ages. Their skills as musicians,
horse-copers (a dealer, not necessarily an honest one), makers of mud bricks and
wooden troughs, basket-weavers and tinkers were in demand almost up to the present day.
Since the time of Maria Theresa and Joseph II repeated attempts have been made to
assimilate or (latterly) integrate them into the mainstream. In the course of Communist
forced industrialisation after the Second World War, Gypsies were recruited to work in
factories and on building sites. Many unskilled Gypsies found jobs too; even if this was often
akin to being on artificial life support. Others stayed in villages and worked for local cooperatives.
Most of the Roma commuted and many got used to regular work; quite a few
got qualifications and their families were able to step up the social ladder a rung or two.
Jobs linked to their traditions and skills dried up in parallel with Hungary's transition to
democracy and its adoption of a market economy. Fashions changed, too. Whether it was
Gypsy music in restaurants, wicker tables or knick-knacks, demand simply evaporated.
And the state's long arm of command and control withdrew. The Roma, comprising around
7 per cent of the country's total population, were largely left high and dry.
Successive governments have thrown money at the problem. The trouble is many
well-meaning but badly designed government policies which aim to lift the Roma out
of poverty have tended to have the perverse impact of reinforcing difficulties associated
with them: segregation in schools, squalid living conditions – often in shanties on the
outskirts of villages – petty crime, jobless fathers upping and leaving the family.
An apt illustration concerns subsidies for schools which promise to abolish
classroom segregation: schools chase after funding whatever its stated purpose, some
only paying lip-service to fulfilling the strings attached – with impunity. Others dutifully
abide by the rules before giving up when non-Roma families withdraw their children
from the newly desegregated school.
Weeding out ghettos, poverty and ignorance requires long-term action which rises
above government cycles. Training programmes which seek to lift Roma out of
unemployment may cut joblessness among trainers but have few benefits otherwise.
One fifty-year-old former factory worker I got to know has learned a roster of skills –
including shorthand! He is still without a job, naturally.
Poverty and poor education are highly correlated. Squeezed out of the legitimate
labour market and for want of a better education the Roma have had little chance of
living on the edge let alone climbing back on board. Today children of 25 per cent of
Roma families fail to complete eight years of primary education.
In our competitive society, villagers vying for job frown at subsidies or benefits
granted to the Roma by the state or local council. Double standards at local level
produce the greatest outrage. "I pay for my electricity; why can the other guy be left
alone to steal it? I shelled out money for my driver's licence; why are others let off scot
free when they drive around without one? How come the Roma kid got into nursery but
my kid didn't?" they ask themselves (understandably).
In tough times anti-Roma sentiment grows apace.
In October 2006, a teacher was driving his car through a village largely inhabited by
Roma. He was unfortunate to bump into a Roma girl (she was lightly injured) and was
beaten to death in front of his own children by a group of Roma as a result. On another
occasion a Roma beat an old man to death for an oil heater. Naturally stories such as these
captured a lot of media attention. They also unleashed a tirade of anti-Roma polemic.
Four bouncers working in Debrecen clubs decided to take matters into their own
hands. They first fired shots at and broke some windows of Roma homes on the
outskirts of villages; later they hurled petrol bombs into the houses. During the period
of over 12 months until their arrest they killed six people and injured three at nine
different locations. The attack in Tatárszentgyörgy was the seventh in a row.
Published 2009-12-15
Original in Hungarian
Translation by Tim Wilkinson
First published in The Hungarian Quarterly 196 (2009)
Contributed by The Hungarian Quarterly
© Zoltán Tábori / The Hungarian Quarterly
© Eurozine
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